"What I don't know"

Just as Obama said today in the debate, when asked the question on what they don't know.... my answer too is on what I know. And what I know is that people who have the money in this market, to put a substantial downpayment, are winners because they are in the drivers seat.

The stock market taking another nose dive and no one knowing where and when we will bottom out, makes it very evident to me that as hard as we try to catch it, it will never come in our reach.I am not a stock market insider, infact I know nothing about stocks. My knowledge in that arena is not even worth talking about and coming from an old school mentality, I only invest in what is tangible to me. For me stocks are paper transactions that can go into free fall tailspin in one day wiping out my entire life's savings and I am afraid of that.

Real estate, even though currently in a downward trend , cannot lose 30-40-50% of its value in one day or one week !! My 30 year old cousin, who works for Citi, called me today and literally crying because he was down on his savings from 58K to 8K !! I tried to cheer him up but I knew he took a brutal bashing on his 401K investments in the past few weeks.So, he decided to sell his property in Dubai, that will cover his losses on his stocks. And I smiled- at last his piece of tangible investment is bailing him out !

I have been in the country since 1999 and I remember that the time of the dotcom bust in the Silicon Valley, when people lost heavily on the stock market. Wary and tired investors started to shift their dollars into real estate.It just seemed to be a safer and cheaper bet at the time.Stemming out of my rudimentary knowledge of the investment markets,in my opinion,this would be the time to leverage one's money into real estate.Even despite the fact that many people consider real estate to be risky, it does not pose that big of a risk as the stock market to me, given the current conditions. There are lenders who will still give you loans as long as you meet their underwriting criteria. If you are not wanting to take on additional mortgage burden, and have cash to invest- you can make all cash offers and get deep discounts on REO's.

My expertise lies in the market I serve and there are some really great deals to be found in Windemere ! I wish I had the money to buy a house in today's market, I know I would be able to retire in 10 years based on that investment. Speaking from the heart - my house is at the same value as I bought it 4 years ago.The appreciation I made in 2 years got wiped out totally, but I am hanging in there. I know that my intial investment can still be recuperated, if I chose to do so.If you are ready to stay in it for the long haul,of atleast the next 10 years, the house you buy now will most definitely spin money in the future.

Our marketplace is full of short sales and if you have the patience and the right person negotiating on your behalf, you can get a really great bargain.In my next blog, I will give you statistics on Windemere that will give you a clearer picture on the balance of the new homes with resales, short sales and bank owned homes here.Maybe you might decide to join me in my old school thought process and decide this is the the right time for you to invest in a property that you might land up calling your home.